I see the arguments here often that it's a short pie fight, too many guys and only one girl, and so on. I rewatched it last night (its on the Max streaming service under TCM or classics - the Warner library) and it still does it for me. Sure it could have been better, with more women. But here's why I think its great:
Real pies and lots of them Natalie Wood at the height of her babe-ness A major star of the time Big-budget set Reasonable story line for pie fight Good film quality Multiple hits on Natalie. Too often, in other films or TV, the women are hit once or twice and then its off to someone else. The character appears to be "into" the fight. She doesn't just get hit, she throws pies and appears to enjoy seeing her pies hit others. That costume. Lingerie! Corset! Stockings! Boobs! And she takes off that stupid jacket early so we get a good look.
I need to see what sort of screen grabs I can get from Max but I just did these new ones. Wish Max had some BTS features and outtakes for GR as it does for some other films.
Another reason to love the scene: They appear to be just flinging the pies with wild abandon after the first few hits. Sure we know it took 4-5 days and some scripting but the onscreen result is a complete loss of control by the participants.